Blindsided
by aazure
Summary: Who wants to hurt Hotch? Sorry if there are grammatical errors since English is not my first language and all feedbacks are greatly encouraged :
1. Chapter 1

He walked to his car with purpose in his strides. Of course, he was late. And, he was rarely late. He led a team of talented profilers and they would notice something was wrong if he walked in late today.

Still, he had every reason to be late. With the crank calls he received after midnight, he could not remember the last time he had a good sleep. He tried changing his numbers several times, but the calls kept coming in.

As he reached his parked SUV, he fumbled with his keys to get the door opened. Suddenly he felt a sharp pain at his side. On reflex, he dropped his briefcase and clutched his side. He was dumbfounded to see his hand covered in blood. His blood. Why? Who?

Hotch reached into his jacket pocket and took out his mobile phone. Hit a speed dial at random, he heard a woman's voice telling him that the queen of knowledge was at his service. If he was not in so much pain, he would have smiled.

He dropped to the ground beside the vehicle. It was hard to stay conscious and he found it difficult to keep his eyes open. He knew that he was in shock and must tell Garcia what had happened.

"Garcia...help," he whispered into the phone.

"Sir?. What happened?"

"Shots fired. Need help...help," said Hotch as he was struggling to stay awake.

Garcia ran out from the room so fast that she nearly collided with Morgan around a corner.

"Whoaa..baby girl. Where's the fire?" he asked and when he saw the wild look in her eyes, Morgan immediately knew something was wrong.

"Take a deep breath and tell me now..."

Garcia tried desperately to compose herself and told Morgan what had happened. He was stunned and asked her where was Hotch.

"I manage to trace his location using his mobile, he's at home. Hurry. He doesn't sound good Morgan. Please hurry."

Her words sent shivers down his spine and immediately ran to where Reid, Prentiss and Rossi were having their morning coffee.

Rossi saw Morgan's bewildered look and he knew that the young man was spooked about something and

Morgan's face said it all that something was terribly wrong.

He told them what had happened and the team was stunned into silence. Once they got over their shock, all of them started to talk all at once. Rossi immediately called the FBI director on his mobile as they ran to their vehicles.

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Hotch tried to stay awake and held on to his government-issued sig sauer. Several more shots were fired and they hit the windshield which shattered it to pieces. After determining roughly where the shots came from, Hotch fired few rounds.

The shooter returned fire and pinned down the profiler behind the vehicle.

Hotch started to shiver and knew that he lost too much blood. He prayed that help would come sooner than later.

Then he heard tires screeched to a stop beside his vehicle. A second later, Morgan was at his side followed by Dave.

Both of the federal agents had their guns out and the worried look on their faces told him that he was in a bad shape.

"Hotch, are you hit anywhere else?" asked Dave as he started to examine the gunshot wound. Gently lifted the blood-soaked shirt, he saw that there was no exit hole. Hotch moaned softly when Dave started to clean the wound using the antiseptics he took out from a first aid kit bag he had with him.

Morgan kept a look-out for the shooter and occassionally glanced at his boss who was leaning against the SUV as Rossi carefully cleaned the wound. 


	2. Chapter 2

Dave looked at Morgan and asked him about the ambulance. Morgan said medical assistance would have problem reaching them as it was kept at bay due to the danger at site.

"Hotch, I have to remove the bullet before it makes more damage, do you understand," as he put pressure on the wound.

"Yes...just do it," said Hotch as he fought to stay awake.

"Do you know what you are doing," asked Morgan.

"No. But, we have to take out the bullet before it nicks major arteries in there. He's losing too much blood".

"Morgan, how's Hotch?," asked Prentiss through his earpiece.

"He's in a bad shape. Where is the reinforcement? Has anyone spotted the shooter yet?"

"They're still looking."

"That's not good enough! He has to go to the hospital now!"

"Morgan..."

"Sorry Prentiss. I shouldn't have taken it out on you".

"Don't worry. Be careful."

"ya.."

Rossi who was listening to the whole conversation between the two young agents began to cut Hotch's shirt.

The wounded agent, with a shaky hand, open his wallet to look at the picture of his son.

Hotch nearly blacked out when Dave started to prod the wound. The blinding hot searing pain caused him to drop the wallet as he whimpered fighting to stay awake. Dave ordered Morgan to hold Hotch down.

"Keep him still! I can feel the slug...almost there...almost," said Rossi and few seconds later he took out the bullet and dropped it into an evidence bag.

He immediately wrapped the wound while silently prayed he did not make it worse for Hotch who thankfully had lost conscious.

Morgan checked Hotch's pulse and silently took off his jacket to cover his boss' stilled form.

Suddenly from the corner of his eyes, he saw movement at one of the nearby bushes and immediately pointed his gun towards it.

Dave follwed suit and picked up his sig sauer pointing it at the same direction.

Then an orange tabby poke its head out from under the bush.

"Don't kill the cat guys..." Hotch whispered. Both men looked at each other and started to smile.

"Welcome back Hotch," said Dave. Grimace in pain, Hotch tried to sit up and leaned against the SUV.


End file.
